Cesear's Forum to Present Joanna McClelland Glass’ TRYING, 11/4-12/10

Cesear's Forum will present Joanna McClelland Glass' TRYING at Kennedy's Down Under, PlayhouseSquare, Cleveland, Ohio, in a limited November/December engagement. The semi-autobiographical play concerns the evolving working relationship between cantankerous 81-year-old Judge Francis Biddle (FDR's Attorney General and the Chief Justice of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials) and his newly appointed young secretary.

At different places in their lives, the title, as dramatized, extracts the mid- sixties boss-secretary relationship and the immediate perspectives of shared personal crises. TRYING was first presented at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago in the spring of 2004, followed by a successful New York run at the Promenade Theatre. The play continues to be produced regionally in the U.S., Canada and England.

The intersection of American and Canadian perspectives (Ms. Glass was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), and of youth and age informs many of Joanna McClelland Glass' plays, which include: PLAY MEMORY, IF WE ARE WOMEN, TO GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE WE GO, YESTERYEAR, ARTICHOKE, CANADIAN GOTHIC, AMERICAN MODERN, PALMER PARK and MRS. DEXTER AND HER DAILY. Ms. Glass has written two novels and adapted them into screenplays: "Reflections on a Mountain Summer," and "Woman Wanted."

The Cleveland production features Glenn Colerider and Tricia Bestic. The production will be staged by Artistic Director Greg Cesear, with a setting by Cameron Caley Michalak, lighting by Andrew Kaletta and costumes by Aimee Kluiber.

Joanna McClelland Glass' TRYING, Fri. & Sat. at 8 pm, Nov. 4th thru Dec. 10th, Sunday Matinée, Nov. 20th at 3 pm. All seats $15. Performances at Kennedy's Down Under, PlayhouseSquare, 1501 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland. Call 216-241-6000 or www.playhousesquare.org.